


Loneliness Lingers Where Her Breath Used To Be

by Emilykrausjones



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Am I too late for this idea now?, F/M, Fluff, Minnie May could sail this ship if they let her, Romantic Fluff, Too bad I wanted to write it and I still have hope it'll happen in the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:10:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilykrausjones/pseuds/Emilykrausjones
Summary: Minnie May Barry has a terrible habit of disrupting formal occasions. It just so happens that only Gilbert's life is turned upside down by her shenanigans.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 90





	Loneliness Lingers Where Her Breath Used To Be

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of doing homework so enjoy this unedited work of wishful thinking (a common theme in my writing?)!

Silverware chimed pleasantly against the elegant china that sat in-front of everyone at the dinner party. The gas light casting the room in a comforting glow as the summer sun dipped beyond the windows in the lavish dinning room. Gilbert did not feel the anxiety that had plagued him all day, the easy conversation in the Barry’s fine home setting his nerves at ease. He looked at Bash who chatted with Mr. Barry with the confidence of a man who knew his worth.  
“Minnie May, stop chewing with your mouth open,” Diana chided her sister. She looked at Gilbert and smiled an apology.   
Gilbert found Diana’s younger sister quite entertaining, enjoying the careless way she conducted herself, her fingers dipping into his own dish to lick the remainder of the sauce from his plate.   
Mrs. Barry grabbed the young girls arm and placed them in Minnie May’s lap as the dishes were cleared away. “I apologize, Gilbert, I thought this would be a wonderful exercise in practicing table manners, but it seems I was too hasty with my decision.”  
Gilbert laughed, bringing his water to his lips as a new dish was placed before him. He was overly full, but the cake before him looked too divine to pass up. The stomach ache that would come later seemed a trivial thing. “No need to apologize, Mrs. Barry, I was finished anyway.”  
Mrs. Barry gave him a grateful nod and turned back to her husband and Bash as they conversed about London, a port Bash had been to on one of the many journeys he’d made at sea.   
“Diana, I don’t think he has a splendid chin at all,” Minnie May taunted.   
Gilbert looked over at Diana, confusion etched on his expression. But she was glaring at her sister. “Minnie May, hold your tongue.”  
The small girl stuck her tongue out. “Anne said he had a splendid chin, but I don’t think so at all,” she giggled. She looked at Gilbert who felt like he’d been suddenly struck quite dumb. “What does splendid mean, exactly?”  
“I-uh,” Gilbert muttered, too lost by the sudden revelation that Anne found his chin splendid to answer her question.   
“Mother, Minnie May is being intolerable, she should go to bed,” Diana begged, looking at Gilbert with concern.   
Mrs. Barry sighed, dropping her napkin across her plate to show she was done. “I think you are right, Diana. Please ring the bell for them to clean up.” She turned towards Gilbert and Bash, “and we can move to the study to discuss the business of your divine apples. I am quite sure they will be quite prized back home.”  
Gilbert tried to smile, tried to focus on the business proposition that would secure the future of the farm for himself, but most importantly for Bash and Delphine when he left for university. That was money that could hire help for Bash, possibly even help running the house and tending to Dellie. So why did his thoughts return to freckles that dotted milk fine skin like constellations? Of red hair that was not just fire, but crisp autumn leaves in waning sunlight.   
And he was pulled quite literally out of his reveries as he made his way towards the drawing room. They stood in the alcove of the entry room, he could hear Bash and the Barry’s as they conversed, waiting for Gilbert to enter the study. “Diana, what are you doing?”  
“I needed to apologize for Minnie May, she is a wicked child who can’t stop wagging her tongue,” Diana rushed out. “She shouldn’t have said what she did at dinner. It would only embarrass Anne, so you must promise you won’t say anything to her. She’d be so cross with me if she knew.”  
“Did she, uh, actually say that about me?” Gilbert asked, his hand coming up to rub his neck. He felt awkward and exposed, but he had to know.   
Diana quirked her head to the side, trying to read him. It succeeded in making him squirm and a blush he did not wish to acknowledge crept up his neck. “Gilbert,” Diana began. “Cole and I used to think you had a… crush. On Anne. But she was always so vexed with you. You always seemed at each others throats, so I assumed we concocted the whole story out of romantic notions because we wanted that for Anne. But, do you?” she finished, a knowing smile on her face.  
“Do I what?” Gilbert asked, though he knew very well what she meant.  
“If you don’t, please don’t say anything about tonight. But if you do, if you do care for Anne, I think you should say something. I know it’s not my place, and I shouldn’t meddle, but I will give you my piece anyway. She won’t wait forever, because she doesn’t know to even think about waiting. She is brilliant and brave and so unique in spirit, but she doesn’t see herself the way I think we do.”  
“I-well,” Gilbert began, eyes wide at all Diana was presenting him with.  
Just then a shadow darkened the space they occupied. “Blythe, you can ask Diana for relationship advice later, but we shouldn’t keep the Barry’s waiting. Or keep Anne from home for much longer.”  
Oh god, he hadn’t even thought of how Anne was with Dellie. How he would have to see her while this new revelation made camp on his chest, making it hard to breathe.  
He nodded to Bash, gave Diana a tight smile, and made his way into the study.   
\-------  
The Blythe-Lacroix home smelled of stew and honey and wet wool, it smelled of nostalgia and pain and new beginnings. And curled on the sofa in the small sitting room was Anne, her hand resting on the Dellie’s cot, her lips gently parted in her deep sleep.   
“Why don’t you wake Anne, Blythe,” Bash whispered, scooping the baby gently into his arms. “We are going to head to bed.”  
“Sleep well, Bash,” Said Gilbert, his hand gently squeezing Dellie’s small, socked foot. “Goodnight, Delphine.”  
Bash crept up the stairs, Delphine cradled carefully in the crook of his arm. There was the soft sound of his door closing behind him, and then only the quiet of the house and the steady breathing of Anne’s sleeping form.  
Gilbert stood and took in the sight, how her knees curled into her chest, how her lower lip pushed out with every exhale, her braids a mess about her face. A splendid chin, the words echoed in his mind. How could he be so bad at reading people? He had held her in his heart for the last years of his boyhood, but had tried to let it go, tried to move on from a seemingly unrequited crush. She ran from him, argued with him.   
They had had moments. Moments that felt like butterfly wings, delicate. Temporary. But had they been more to her? Gilbert couldn’t understand the girl before him.  
He shook his head, bending down to place a hand on her shoulder. He shouldn’t touch her, he knew this, but his body seemed to act on its own accord. “Anne,” he said, his voice hushed as not to frighten her,. “We’re home.”  
She opened her eyes, her lashes casting a striking shadow over her cheekbones in the dimming light of the hearth. “Gilbert?” Anne asked, blinking sleep from her eyes.   
“Yes,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry we are so late getting home, Mr. Barry sure knows how to talk.”  
She rights herself on the cushions and rubbed at her face, bringing a lovely flush to her cheeks that Gilbert tried not to admire. “Where’s Matthew?”  
“Matthew?” he asked. It was a good question. He was meant to collect her at seven, when they were supposed to be back, it was well past eight now. Gilbert was so focused on his conflicted emotion, he hadn’t even noticed. But there was no one else in the house when they had returned except the two sleeping forms in the living room. “Maybe he anticipated us being late?”  
Anne worried her lip between her teeth, once again Gilbert did not admire it quite forcefully.   
“I don’t think he would know to expect that,” she said. “He must have fallen asleep in his chair, I’m sure he’ll wake soon.”  
She hopped off the couch at the same time Gilbert stood. He was keenly aware of their proximity, aware of how alone they were in the room. Anne looked up at him, her eyes wide in shock and… something more, Gilbert was sure of it. There was the small catch of her breath, the warmth of its release on his neck. They both take a step back and heat finds its way back to his cheeks, something that had become all too common that night. Loneliness lingers where her breathe used to be.  
Gilbert clears his throat, his hand reflexively rubbing the back of his neck. “Let me put on some tea and we’ll wait for him. If he’s not here in a half, I’ll take you home.”  
Anne nodded and walked quickly to the kitchen. He followed behind, watching as her disheveled braids bounced off her back, tendrils of it escaping like a whip of flames. He had so much he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t know what exactly it was he needed to say. So he did the one thing he could, he put the kettle on and joined her at the table. 

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this in past tense but I write my original works almost always in present so you'll probably see some slip ups lmao. If I continue with this I'll be more diligent and edit, but I just wanted to get this up!


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